Major California housing bill from Sen. Scott Wiener put...

1of4FILE - In this June 28, 2018, file photo, State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, speaks to members of the Senate in Sacramento, Calif. A new California bill would ban doctors from performing treatment or surgery on the genitalia of intersex children unless its medically necessary or the child is old enough to consent. The California Medical Association said it has serious concerns with the legislation because it removes doctors ability to respond to cases on an individual basis. Wiener's bill released Monday, Feb. 4, 2019, is the latest effort in California aimed at giving minors more control over their bodies and gender identities. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

4of4State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, left, discusses his housing measure during a committee hearing Wednesday, April 24, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Wiener's bill, SB50, that would increase housing near transportation and job hubs was approved by the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, after it was merged with SB4, a measure by State Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg.Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / AP

SACRAMENTO — State lawmakers dealt a sharp setback Thursday to a San Francisco senator’s efforts to spur denser housing around public transit and in residential neighborhoods, shelving until 2020 a high-profile bill that would curtail local governments’ ability to block certain apartment and condominium projects.

State Sen. Scott Wiener promised to press on with his bill, SB50, after the Senate Appropriations Committee declared it would hold the measure for the rest of the year. The delay could give the Democrat more time to build support or make further changes to the deeply divisive legislation.

“It was the time to take a breath. We took a breath,” said state Sen. Anthony Portantino, a Democrat from La Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles County), who chairs the committee. “It doesn’t mean we’re not going to focus on solving the housing crisis in California. It just means that this isn’t the right fix at this time to do that.”

Wiener crafted SB50 to try to satisfy critics who killed his previous attempt to override local development controls before it got out of its first committee last year. He said he was disappointed that the Appropriations Committee had held the bill after it received nearly unanimous support in two previous panels, and that Portantino had not offered any amendments that might have allowed the bill to advance.

But Wiener also said he was not done fighting and would look for a way to revive SB50 this year, suggesting the Senate had “opportunities to reverse course.”

SB50 would override some local zoning by requiring cities to allow buildings at least four or five stories tall within a half-mile of major transit stops, such as BART or Caltrain stations. It could also remake suburban California by removing density limits in wealthy communities with good schools and access to jobs. That raised the possibility of apartments and condominiums in what have historically been single-family neighborhoods.

While labor and business groups backed Wiener’s bill, it faced enormous resistance from local governments, which worried about losing control over how their cities grow. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors formally opposed SB50, as did many communities on the Peninsula and in the East Bay suburbs. Advocates for affordable housing also raised concerns about the potential for gentrification pushing more low-income Californians out of their homes.

An earlier deal that Wiener reached to exempt counties with fewer than 600,000 people from several of the measure’s provisions had allowed SB50 to pass a tough committee vote last month. But critics still panned the bill as a one-size-fits-all approach.

Portantino said he would prefer legislation that provides financial incentives to cities to build more. He disagreed with how SB50 would supersede local governments’ decision making and its expansive definition of public transit, which includes bus lines that run frequently. He questioned whether that would undermine the bill’s environmental goals of getting more people out of their cars.

“We’re trying to expand light rail. We have to be cognizant of not creating a disincentive,” Portantino said. “If you’re a community out there and you’re considering light rail, do you say the price of light rail is losing local land-use authority? That could be a steep price for some small cities.”

While local governments contend that market forces beyond their control have caused California’s housing shortage, Wiener blames overly restrictive zoning as the biggest impediment to more construction. He chided Portantino for standing behind “a system of almost pure local control.”

“The system that he’s advocating for has failed,” Wiener said, noting that the state’s net housing growth last year was down by nearly 10% from 2017. “The proof is in the pudding.”

He could get a boost from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who lightly scolded opponents of SB50 at an event in San Francisco.

The governor did not endorse the bill — and has declined to do so in the past — but said California must “get serious about increasing supply” of housing.

“This is serious stuff, and I admire and applaud Sen. Wiener for his doggedness and leadership,” Newsom said. “Those who oppose it, I appreciate, but what are they promoting as an alternative to address this issue with the kind of certainty and aggressiveness that is required at this moment?”

Alexei Koseff is a state Capitol reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle, covering Gov. Gavin Newsom and California government from Sacramento. He previously spent five years in the Capitol bureau of The Sacramento Bee, reporting on everything from international recruiting by the University of California to a ride service for state senators too drunk to drive. Alexei is a Bay Area native and attended Stanford University. He speaks fluent Spanish.